by Piyaporn Hawiset
21 November 2001
Funding was by the European Space Agency and Canada's RADARSAT International
A satellite crop tracking system to help Asia's rice growers and insurers monitor progress in rice fields is due to set up in 2002. The Internet Rice Intelligence System, or IRIS, should offer near real-time data on rice crops. It was presented to delegates at an international rice conference on Malaysia's Langkawi Island by Peter Bolton, director of Malaysia-based Bolton Associates, a firm that holds the rights to the surveillance system. The IRIS, to be delivered on a Web-based platform, can help insurers determine risks accurately, and help growers estimate harvests and thus, get credit, Bolton said.
"This is an unique solution for the rice industry, coming at a time when prices are rock-bottom and stocks so high that nobody has an idea how much," Bolton told the conference. "IRIS will tell us what's happening to the rice crop the world over," Bolton said. "We know, for instance, that if the crop is under water for 48 hours, then it's gone."
"But we have to know when and where the flooding occurs. IRIS will tell us precisely," he added. The system will be affordable for Asian rice growers, Bolton said.
Some industry experts said they were unsure how well the product will be accepted in Asia, where rice is a staple, politically-sensitive commodity.
"It's the right and required tool, but I don't know how it will fare in Asia because rice is so political in this part of the world," Alistair McLuskie, who heads a newly-launched online rice exchange at Comdaq.net, said. Bolton said an international group of re-insurers has formalized a pact to use IRIS, and wants it developed further to cover other global crops. The system, created by Swiss software developer Sarmap and Dutch agricultural technology specialist Synoptics, is funded by the European Space Agency and Canada's RADARSAT International.
IRIS has been tested for 7 years, and in 14 Asian countries since the project's first satellite went into orbit, Bolton said.
Asia's high dependence on rice can make IRIS indispensable, because getting reasonable credit to finance rice growing is almost impossible in some countries.
"In Indonesia, I'm told that the interest on rice cultivation is 18% per annum because of the high risks there. That's highway robbery," Bolton said. "If you can get insurance at the field level, the farmer can take that certificate to an agricultural bank which can lend him money for next year's crops."
That is assuming that one can convince traditionally usurious Indonesian lenders, including the banks, to reduce the level of usury they have become accustomed to.